Report: Iron 3-1 Southend United

The Iron picked up three points after beating Southend United 3-1 at Glanford Park this afternoon.

Southend’s Jason Demetriou put the away side in front via a wicked deflection, but Kevin van Veen equalised for Scunthorpe during the first half.

After a quickly taken corner by Hakeeb Adelakun in the second period, Conor Townsend fired Scunthorpe into a 2-1 lead.

Towards the end of the game, the Iron went 3-1 up after Michael Turner volleyed the ball into his own goal to complete the turnaround.

Manager Graham Alexander made two changes from the side that drew 2-2 against Milton Keynes Dons last weekend. Left-back Townsend returned to the starting eleven alongside midfielder Funso Ojo.

The visitors Southend had an early opportunity inside the first minute, but Demetriou’s stabbed effort glanced wide of the right post.

Almost immediately after, the Iron had a brilliant chance, but were denied by a fantastic save. Townsend paced down the left side to put a low ball into the area towards Tom Hopper, whose attempt was expertly parried away by Mark Oxley in the Southend goal.

Ten minutes later, and van Veen was presented with a huge chance. Adelakun found space to pass wide to Townsend, who delivered another great cross, but the Dutchman’s header was tipped onto the bar by Oxley.

In the 19th minute, Townsend again was proving a threat on the left-hand side. He beat the offside trap, entering the box and squared it back to van Veen, but Ben Coker made a sliding block to deny the striker from finding the back of the net.

However, it was Southend who took the lead in the 25th minute. Demetriou picked up the ball from 30-yards out and his drilled effort took a massive deflection, wrong footing Matt Gilks with the ball left to bounce into the goal.

Four minutes later, the Shrimpers looked to add to their earlier goal. Marc-Antoine Fortune held the ball up well and laid it off to ex-Iron Josh Wright, but his strike was deflected wide by Charlie Goode.

The Iron got the second goal of the game through a van Veen header in the 32nd minute to make it 1-1. Southend failed to clear from a corner, as Josh Morris was allowed to cross it back into the area for Goode, who saw his effort get blocked. The ball then kindly dropped for Van Veen and he was able to tuck it away from close range.

Adelakun then looked to put Scunthorpe ahead, but his two drilled efforts were strongly blocked by Ben Coker and Turner.

Moments before the half-time whistle, Simon Cox found Anthony Wordsworth with some neat play inside the Iron’s box. However, Goode defended with strength to block the shot and win a goal kick.

The Iron had to be alert defensively at the beginning of the second-half. Fortune delicately put in Wordsworth, however Goode made another impressive block to prevent the shot.

However, they were quickly on the attack and tested substitute goalkeeper Nathan Bishop. Adelakun showed good skill to keep the ball before passing to Hopper, who cut in on his left foot. His strike was fumbled by Bishop but he reacted sharply to dive on the loose ball.

In the same minute, Townsend got to the byline putting a ball across the six-yard box, but no Iron players were there to meet it, with Coker poking the ball out for a corner kick.

As the Iron pressed forward, Duane Holmes looked to fire into the top corner, although Bishop palmed away his powerful shot with a diving save.

In the 63rd minute, the Iron did get that goal and went 2-1 up. Adelakun smartly took a short corner quickly to Townsend, who stroked home the ball into the far corner of the net.

The Iron were so close to getting their third of the game. Another well-taken corner from Adelakun was headed at the near post by van Veen and his skimmed effort was cleared off the line by Demetriou.

At the other end, Burgess was in the right place at the right time to turn away Wordsworth’s goalbound effort.

On the counter attack, the Iron were again searching for their third goal. Hopper found van Veen in acres of space on the edge of the box, but the forward couldn’t add to his earlier goal, placing his effort wide of the left post.

An excellent pass from van Van allowed Adelakun to take the ball past the goalkeeper but his final touch took it away from goal. As he settled with ball, he tried to slot the ball into the near corner, however Bishop used his foot to keep the ball out.

From the resulting corner, the Iron finally had their third goal and went 3-1 up in the 86th minute. Adelakun took the corner and Turner volleyed the ball into his own net at the far post.